Northrop Grumman [NOC] expects the Air Force to release a draft request for proposals (RFP) for its F-16 radar upgrade program “imminently,” a company official said yesterday.
Though he didn’t know the exact day of the draft RFP release, Northrop Grumman Vice President and General Manager for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) & Targeting Systems Joe Ensor told reporters yesterday he knew what kind of RFP it would be.
“We are awaiting a draft RFP imminently,” Ensor said. “It will be a draft specification and a requirements document. As far as the acquisition, right now, it is a government source selection.”
Northrop Grumman and Raytheon [RTN] are bidding on the Air Force’s program to upgrade its F-16 fleet with at least 300 Advanced Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars. Raytheon is offering its Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR) while Northrop Grumman is bidding its Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) (Defense Daily, Aug. 7). Raytheon said the RACR is the world’s first operational AESA fighter radar while Northrop Grumman said the SABR was specifically designed for the F-16 (Defense Daily, June 21).
The Air Force wants the F-16 radar modernization program to bridge a capability gap while it waits for the F-35 to arrive. The Air Force said in June it expected to issue its draft RFP by Aug. 1 (Defense Daily, June 21).
An Air Force spokesman estimated the value of the program, combining both development and production funding, at $1.9 billion, with the radar constituting 75-85 percent of the total estimated value.
The F-16 and F-35 are developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT].